Earth's Magnetism in the Age of Sail
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: April 16, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780801871320
Subjects: Electricity, magnetism & electromagnetism; Geographical discovery & exploration; Geophysics; History of science; Navigation; Popular science; c 1600 to c 1700; c 1700 to c 1800; Magnetism; Geomagnetism; Science; History: World; Maritime History; History / Europe / General; Earth Sciences - General; Military Science; Compass; History
First sentence: In 1904 a young American named Andrew Ellicott Douglass started to collect tree specimens.
Description: "From about 1600 to 1800 scientists and mariners made increasingly sophisticated attempts to understand the Earth's magnetic field and use it in navigation. Europeans had long understood the difference between the magnetic and true north, but why did it vary as one traversed the sea? Could this variation be used to pinpoint longitude? Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sources - including manuals, treatises, sailing directions, and logbooks in a half-dozen languages - A.R.T. Jonkers explores these early efforts both for what they reveal about the history of science and navigation and as a unique record of the actual changes in the Earth's magnetic field. The result, a combination of science and history, will appeal to a broad audience of specialists as well as general readers."--Jacket.